1. Technical Field
The application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material, and a cleaning device for cleaning bottles in a beverage bottling plant.
2. Background Information
Beverage bottling plants for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material have a filling machine for filling bottles, cans with a liquid in a container filling process. Such a filling machine usually comprises a plurality of filling positions, with each filling position having a filling element to fill a corresponding bottle with liquid beverage filling material. There is possibly also provided an apparatus to move empty bottles to a filling element, and each filling element being configured and disposed to receive corresponding bottles to be filled from said apparatus to move empty bottles. Upon filling, an apparatus removes a filled bottle from a filling element. There may possibly also be provided an apparatus to hold a bottle to be filled in sealing attitude at a filling element, and each filling element having a portion to introduce at least one process pressure into the interior space of a corresponding bottle, as well as at least one pressure sensor for each filling element, each sensor being disposed and configured to sense a pressure related to the interior of a corresponding bottle that is connected with the corresponding filling element, and each sensor being configured to produce at least one indication representative of a sensed pressure related to the interior of a corresponding bottle. There may also be provided a controller that is configured to receive from a corresponding sensor at least one indication representative of a sensed pressure related to the interior of a bottles; and apparatus configured to control at least one process parameter related to filling a bottle in the filling machine. That controller may be further configured to control the control apparatus for the at least one process parameter of the filling machine.
Also known are filling plant systems that include a cleaning station to rinse or otherwise clean containers such as bottles and the like.
Thus, a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a cleaning station to clean bottles, a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus being configured to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material, and the apparatus configured to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material comprising apparatus being configured to terminate the filling of beverage bottles upon liquid beverage filling material reaching said substantially predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement being configured and disposed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine.
Upon filling, a closing station closes filled bottles.
There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station, a labeling station in the event that labeling of the filled bottles is intended, as well as a loading station that is configured to load filled bottles into containers, for example, in a six-pack arrangement. There may also be provided a conveyor arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the closing station to the loading station, and to and from the labeling station.
Devices for cleaning containers, such as, for example, bottles, cans, boxes, and the like are used to clean and/or sterilize beverage containers, such as, for example, plastic bottles, either interiorly or, as desired, exteriorly with a stream of air that contains hydrogen peroxide vapor being employed. This air stream comprises an elevated temperature necessary to maintain hydrogen peroxide in the vaporized state. In the event that the air stream covers or contacts vessel walls that are cooler, hydrogen peroxide condenses as a fine film at the contact locations. Such film achieves a uniform sterilization of the surface, when compared with prior designs wherein fine droplets are directly sprayed onto the surfaces.
In devices of this type, the evaporation of hydrogen peroxide that is usually present in aqueous solution having a suitable concentration, and that, accordingly, is evaporated together with the water, is done in an evaporation chamber of a hydrogen peroxide evaporator, from which evaporator the hydrogen peroxide vapor, through which air has been blown, is passed to the container that is to be sterilized. In such arrangements, generally, one evaporator is provided for each container position, and one evaporator is cyclically utilized to sterilize containers that are introduced sequentially.
In known designs, as they are known from German Patent No. DE 32 35 476 C2, German Patent No. DE 35 40 161 C2, and German Patent No. DE 39 00 448 C2 (FIG. 2), hydrogen peroxide is sprayed, by means of a two-component nozzle, into the evaporator chamber. The spray droplets contact the heated surfaces and evaporate there. This method is superior to other methods in which evaporation is carried with heated air, since the heat capacity of air is much inferior to solids (wall material). German Patent No. DE 32 35 476 C2, and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,631,173 issued to Müller et al. on Dec. 23, 1986; German Patent No. DE 35 40 161 C2, and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,478 issued to Reiter on Jan. 30, 1990; and German Patent No. DE 39 00 448 C2, and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,721 issued to Turtschan on Jan. 29, 1991, are hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein.
A similar design is known from German Patent No. DE 19 704 639 C2. Therein, a single-component nozzle is used to spray an airstream that has been admitted in a different manner, onto the wall surfaces in the evaporation chamber, which wall surfaces, due to specific reasons, are maintained at a temperature that is below the evaporation temperature. Evaporation is carried out at a higher wall temperature only in the further extent of the air stream. German Patent No. 19 704 639 C2 and its corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,678 issued to Sorensen on Jan. 15, 2002, are hereby incorporate by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein
It is of disadvantage in this type of art that single-component or two-component nozzles are used, which, as is known, operate with very narrow channels that effectuate atomization. Atomization into very fine droplets, however, is necessary, so as to subsequently achieve a rapid evaporation.
In the known designs, the nozzles tend to become rapidly plugged. This is due to the stabilizing salts that are usually present in hydrogen peroxide/water solutions, and that tend to precipitate and tend to form small grains that cause the narrow nozzle channels to become plugged. This effect is only insufficiently prevented by filters that are disposed downstream of the flow.